The invention relates to a method and apparatus for printing air-permeable textile material.
Such a method and such an apparatus are known from European patent application 0 633 345. Also, European patent applications 0 633 346 and 0 633 347 describe such apparatuses.
In comparison with the more conventional transfer system, in which first printing is effected on a paper carrier in reverse using an ink jet printer and then the pattern applied is transferred to textile by sublimation, such known methods and apparatuses have the advantage that the intermediate step of printing on paper and attendant losses of time, paper and printing ink are prevented.
A drawback of using these known methods and apparatuses is, however, that relatively much ink does not sufficiently adhere to the textile, as a result of which it separates during use and when washing the textile. In general, it is necessary for this reason to wash such products before use so as to prevent staining.
Another drawback of using these known methods and apparatuses is that the print sharpness is affected by the spreading of the ink as soon as it has been applied to the textile material.
It is an object of the invention, when printing textile directly by means of an ink jet printer, to ensure a better take-up of the ink in the textile, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, to limit the spreading of ink.
This object is achieved by carrying out a method according to the present invention which preferably includes incrementally bringing successive areas of a textile material to be printed into an area covered by at least one ink jet print head, selectively applying ink to the textile material by means of the ink jet print head according to predetermined picture information, and subjecting the applied ink to a treatment for at least fixing the ink. Preferably, the textile material is kept tensioned in the area covered by the ink jet print head over a free space on the side of the textile material remote from the ink jet print head. In order to be able to carry out the printing of textile in this manner, the invention further provides for an apparatus to carry out the above-described method. Preferably, the apparatus includes at least one ink jet print head reciprocable to cover a particular print area, a print head control for controlling the movement and ink delivery by the aforementioned ink jet print head, a guide table for guiding textile material to be printed in the area covered by the print head, and a conveying structure for incrementally bringing successive parts of the textile material to be printed into the area covered by the ink jet print head.
By effecting each printing on a part of the textile material behind which a free space is situated, and which is thus not in contact with a surface located behind it, discharged ink is less impeded to rapidly penetrate far into the textile material. Furthermore, it is not inconvenient if a part of the ink penetrates through the textile material completely because the absence of contact with a subjacent surface in the area covered by the print head or print heads prevents smearing of penetrated ink. This ensures a rapid deep penetration of the ink transversely to the plane in which the textile extends and a limitation of the spreading parallel to the plane in which the textile extends.